Fun and Games

If you are reading this post, you have probably played a video game at some point in your life. Maybe it was one of those simple ball-paddle block-buster kind of deals, or maybe it was something a little more involved, with adventure, puzzles, mystery, experience points, strategy, exploration, gunning, or some kind of tasteful blend.

There are some folks who detest the presence of video games in our homes, the needless hours wasted away on an imaginary character, and the desensification of violence that some games bring. These same people generally fail to question the appeal of games: what are the kids getting from games that they aren't getting from their schools?

A stroll in the safari can answer some fundamental questions, but with a limited budget, you can go to the park and watch the puppy dogs. Young fraternal animals will wrestle and bite each other, making an instant transition to and from mutual licking and grooming. Playing games is part of our quintessence, and can't be denied by Jack Thompson or Bible-thumpers.

Having been a client of the American education system within the last decade, I can make some comparative observations. There are hardly any games in school! There is a culture which views games as a means to have fun, relax. God forbid you learn anything from a game. Games are used as a means to reward the class, rather than actually teach them something.

The only game that we really played consistently in my hometown school was called "Escape from Indiana." If you score enough points through rote memorization, you get an earlier letter of the alphabet attached to your character profile. If you get through the levels without making too many mistakes, then the out-of-state colleges will consider you for admission. Assuming your progenitors successfully played the game called "Make Money and Resist Consumer Temptation", you get to see a great ending sequence that involves hills and oceans and cities. Fail, and you are stuck in a corn field and never get to play again.

Needless to say, this game isn't a lot of fun. So, the pendulum of human desire swings the other way, and we can play games at home that are lots of fun, but don't teach you anything. To remedy the situation, we have to change the way we think about games. I envision a future in which there are whole academic departments devoted to the design of educational gaming, a worthwhile investment, given how fundamentally important the education system is to our economy and way of life.

Loony Tunes

Remote cellphone headsets are commonplace, and now it is impossible to tell if the people around me are mumbling to God. Or Lucifer, the Biblical Illuminator. Or Schlorganox, Blight of Galaxy U-434.

What a great time to live in, to be free to act crazy in common space without the threat of ritual incineration, or at least a straight jacket. Joan of Arc springs to mind as someone who would have survived our time and not hers. Of course, she was still a huge prick, and would not have escaped the derision of her peers, but she would have lived long enough to ruin someone's childhood. That child would have grown up to do some really great things.

The greatness of a person or an historical era does not preclude suffering, but rather is dependent on human misery. People make outstanding accomplishments when they are inured to rigor and are instilled with the drive to escape their circumstances. In order to fuel this activity, society needs intolerance, injustice, and poverty, in just the right amounts, and applied in a manner which biases ideas instead of physical characteristics and doesn't murder everyone.

If you see a crazy person on the street, be sure to thank them with a hearty handshake or a delicious milkshake or a joint from shake. Free, democratic society would not exist without the mumblers, who receive social-disassembly instructions from high above.

Punctuality

Below an O
my stomach growls
a colon punctuates the
ampersand of bowels

I've been thinking a lot about punctuation lately, in every sense of the word. It can mean the difference between utter rambling and cohesive thought.

Spacing is important, too. Maybe the last sentence didn't seem too appealing to your fickle eyes, so they darted over here, guided by the double line-break. This is probably the only thing on the page worth reading, so you can fuck off, now. Good riddance.

There is no reason to be punctual at a very young age. Nobody cares what you have to say, so they certainly don't need your company at any specific time of the day. When grammar school comes, they get you on the clock. Up at 6:45 AM, Monday through Friday. Gotta catch the bus at 7:15 AM. School starts at 8:00 AM. Tap, tap, tap...we got you now you little bastard, no escape. The metronome of social order is burrowing into your developing skull.

Not that punctuality is a nefarious thing; it is simply unavoidable if you wish to participate in modernity. You never had a choice, but it's not any more treacherous than vaccination. A minor touch-up to the natural state of things. A little airbrush on her work. If Mother Nature didn't want this, she shouldn't have given us the power to size her up and buy her new clothes. As long as we exercise good taste, she might keep us around for awhile.

Something New

Let's see what these words look like

Now there's some other words post-post. What happens?

I'm using this text and other comments to hone in on my color-choice.


Ok, now it's time for some ASCII art

   
   ~~~  
  ~~~~~
  |o x|   <-- WWI-era soldier with gas mask and missing eye    
  \ ' /     
   \#/      
    U
         
I'm not so good at this.  

Weeeeeee! :)